Display panel having a plurality of arrays of gas-filled cells

ABSTRACT

A display panel includes a slotted structure for providing gas communication paths, the slotted structure comprising insulating plates having a plurality of parallel slots which extend completely through one of the plates, and along substantially the entire length thereof, electrodes are disposed between the plates and above and below the plates to form two layers of cells.

[ 51 Oct. 31, 1972 United States Patent Kupsky Caras..............

..3l5/169R x 315/169 TV x 315/169 "W x ..315/169 R x 3,612,938 10/1971 De Boer et al.

2,933,648 4/1960 Bentley...........

2,967,965 1/1961 Schwartz........

3,096,516 7/1963 Pendleton et al.3l5/ 169 TVX 3,166,396 Miller et al.

[22] Filed: May 10, 1971 Primary Examiner-Palmer C. Demeo Attorneyl(enneth L. Miller, Robert A. Green, George L. Kensinger and Charles S. Hall [21] Appl. No.: 141,724

Related [1.8. Application Data [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 880,025, Nov. 26,

ABSTRACT A display panel includes a slotted structure for providing gas communication paths, the slotted structure 1969, abandoned.

comprising insulating plates having a plurality of [58] i parallel slots which extend completely through one of 0 can v 7 1 the plates, and along substantially the entire length thereof, electrodes are disposed between the plates and above and below the plates to form two layers of cells.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 2,925,530 2/1960 Engelbart........315/169 TV X PATENTEDnu 31 m2 SHEET 1 [IF 2 Np Wm m. A e g r 0 e G ATTORNEY I DISPLAY PANEL HAVING A PLURALITY OF ARRAYS OF GAS-FILLED CELLS This application is a continuation of Application Ser. No. 880,025, filed Nov. 26, 1969, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Display panels comprising a plurality of gas-filled cells which can be turned on selectively to display a message are known in the art, but have thus far not become commercial devices. In a recent development, a display panel has been developed which has two layers of cells, a first layer being used as a scanning or addressing layer for sequentially addressing the cells, one by one or column by column, and a second layer in which information is inserted to be displayed, and perhaps stored, as the first level is scanned. These multilayer devices have been constructed of at least four layers of glass or other insulating material with electrodes suitably positioned between them, at least two of the layers containing a matrix of closely spaced apertures which serve as gas cells. Although these devices have been operated successfully, there is a need to provide economies by eliminating or simplifying component parts, such as one or both of the apertured glass plates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, according to the invention, a multi-layer gaseous display device utilizes, in conjunction with a slotted base plate and a plurality of electrode arrays, a plate having elongated slots which perform the same function as a plate having rows and columns of tiny apertures.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a display embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along the lines 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view along the lines 3 -3 in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a modification of a portion of the panel of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along the lines 5-5 in FIG. 4 showing a complete panel including the plate of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS It is to be understood that the display panel described herein may have substantially any desired size and shape, and it may include substantially any desired number of electrodes and display cells. The panel may also include any suitable ionizable gas such as neon, argon, xenon, etc., singly or in combination. A metal such as mercury, is also usually included in the gas to minimize cathode sputtering. In addition, in the following description of the operation of the invention, reference is made to scanning from cell to cell or glow transfer from cell to cell. This is to be construed to mean either that glow in one cell is actually transferred from an ON cell to an OFF cell, and the OFF cell turns ON, or that glow in one cell produces excited particles and metastable atoms which diffuse from an ON cell to an adjacent OFF cell and can be used to facilitate the firing and turning ON of the adjacent cell.

Referring to the drawings, a display panel 10 embodying the invention includes a bottom plate 20 of glass or other insulating material having a plurality of parallel slots or channels 30 extending into its body from the top surface 40 thereof, and a plurality of first electrodes 50 are seated in the slots 30. The electrodes 50 may be wires, flat strips, films, or the like, and they are preferably wires which are held in the slots in any suitable manner, for example, by a mechanical tight fit or by means of a fused glass frit or the like.

An array of parallel second electrodes 60, preferably in the form of flat strips, is disposed on or in the top surface 50 of plate 20. The electrodes 60 are oriented at 90 to the electrodes 50, and each electrode has an aperture where it crosses a slot 30 and an electrode 50. Each such crossing defines a lower layer gas cell in the panel, each cell 80 including a portion of an electrode 50, a portion of electrode 60, and the volume of gas between them.

The panel 10 also includes an insulating plate of glass, ceramic, pressed mica, or the like disposed on the array of electrodes 60. Plate 90 includes a plurality of narrow elongated slots which extend completely through the plate from its top surface to its bottom surface and from near the left end of the plate to near the right end as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The slots 100 are aligned with the slots 30 in the bottom plate 20, and they are approximately as wide as the slots 30. Electrode wires are seated on the top surface of plate 90, each aligned with a slot 100 and a slot 30 beneath it. The slots 100 are of sufficient length to cover all of the electrodes 60. The plate 90 and its slots 100 serve to define an array of upper cells (FIG. 3), each of which includes a portion of an electrode 60, a portion of an electrode 130 which it crosses, and the gas volume therebetween as defined by the associated portion of a slot 100 in plate 90. A top viewing plate is seated on electrodes 130, and all of the plates are sealed together around their peripheries to form a gastight seal 160.

As noted above, anodes 130 may be seated in slots in the top surface of insulating plate 90. This arrangement is' shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, wherein the display anodes 130 are seated in slots 133 formed in the solid portions of insulating plate 90 adjacent to the ends of slots 100. The slots 133 may be of any convenient depth. Besides providing convenient mounting for the anodes 130, the walls of the slots also shield the anodes from each other, and such shielding may be found to bev desirable under some circumstances in operation of a display panel.

The panel 10 is particularly suited for a type of operation described and claimed in copending and commonly assigned application Ser. No. 850,984, filed Aug. 18, 1969. In this mode of operation, electrodes 50 are operated as anodes, electrodes 60 are operated as cathodes, and electrodes 130 are operated as anodes. Briefly, in operation, the anodes 50 are connected together to means for applying generally positive operating potential thereto, and each of the cathodes 60 has generally negative operating potential applied to it in turn to cause each column of cells 80 to fire and glow. This scanning operation is carried out cyclically through each column of cells. The transfer of glow from each column of cells to the next is facilitated by the generation of excited particles which difiuse from ON cells through slots 30 to the adjacent OFF cells 80. The OFF cells are primed thereby and await the application of turn-on potential, at which time they fire. When it is desired to fire cells 140 in the upper layer to represent the display of information or the like, generally positive operating potentials are applied to selected anodes 130, and glow transfers from the associated cells 80 through apertures 70 in electrodes 60 to the cells 140 where the glow can be viewed through plate 150.

What is claimed is:

1. A gas-filled display panel including a first insulating plate having a top surface and a bottom surface and having a plurality of parallel first slots extending from said top surface downwardly toward said bottom surface,

a first electrode in each of said first slots,

a plurality of second electrodes disposed on said first plate and oriented at an angle to said first electrodes,

each second electrode crossing each of said first electrodes and each such crossing defining a scanning gas cell,

said scanning gas cells being arrayed in rows and columns in a layer,

a second insulating plate seated on said first plate with said second electrodes between them, said second plate having a plurality of elongated slots extending through it and extending along substantially the entire length of said second plate, each said elongated slot being aligned with and overlying one of said first slots,

a plurality of third electrodes seated on said second plate, each aligned with one of said elongated slots,

said third electrodes being parallel to said first electrodes and thus oriented at an angle to said second electrodes whereby each second electrode crosses each of said third electrodes and each such crossing defines a display cell, each display cell being aligned with and communicating with a scanning cell, there being rows and columns of display cells,

said first and second electrodes being adapted to have potentials applied thereto to turn on each of said columns of scanning cells in turn, each of said gated slots are of sufficient length to cover all of said second electrodes.

3. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said second insulating plate has a top surface and said third electrodes are disposed beneath said top surface of said second plate whereby said third electrodes are shielded from each other.

4. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated slots in said second plate have opposite ends, and

said second plate includes enerall solid portions disposed ad acent to said en s of $211 elongated slots,

and a plurality of depressions in the top surface of said second plate and in said solid portions, said third electrodes being seated within said depressions and thus disposed beneath said top surface of said second plate and shielded from each other.

5. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the gas filling in said panel is present in said first slots in said first plate and in said elongated slots in said second plate, and gas discharge can take place in said first slots between said first and second electrodes and in said elongated slots between said second and third electrodes.

6. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the gas filling in said panel is present in said first slots in said first plate and in said elongated slots in said second plate, said first, second, and third electrodes being in contact with said gas.

7. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said first electrodes are anodes, said second electrodes are cathodes, and said third electrodes are anodes.

8. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said first and third electrodes are anode wires and said second electrodes are cathode strips having apertures positioned between each scanning cell and an associated display cell. 

1. A gas-filled display panel including a first insulating plate having a top surface and a bottom surface and having a plurality of parallel first slots extending from said top surface downwardly toward said bottom surface, a first electrode in each of said first slots, a plurality of second electrodes disposed on said first plate and oriented at an angle to said first electrodes, each second electrode crossing each of said first electrodes and each such crossing defining a scanning gas cell, said scanning gas cells being arrayed in rows and columns in a layer, a second insulating plate seated on said first plate with said second electrodes between them, said second plate having a plurality of elongated slots extending through it and extending along substantially the entire length of said second plate, each said elongated slot being aligned with and overlying one of said first slots, a plurality of third electrodes seated on said second plate, each aligned with one of said elongated slots, said third electrodes being parallel to said first electrodes and thus oriented at an angle to said second electrodes whereby each second electrode crosses each of said third electrodes and each such crossing defines a display cell, each display cell being aligned with and communicating with a scanning cell, there being rows and columns of display cells, said first and second electrodes being adapted to have potentials applied thereto to turn on each of said columns of scanning cells in turn, each of said third electrodes being adapted to have potential applied to it to selectively ionize and turn on selected ones of said display cells as each column of scanning cells is energized, and a glass cover plate seated on said second plate with said third electrodes between them, all of said first, second, and third plates being sealed together along their adjacent edges.
 2. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated slots are of sufficient length to cover all of said second electrodes.
 3. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said second insulating plate has a top surface and said third electrodes are disposed beneath said top surface of said second plate whereby said third electrodes are shielded from each other.
 4. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said elongated slots in said second plate have opposite ends, and said second plate includes generally solid portions disposed adjacent to said ends of said elongated slots, and a plurality of depressions in the top surface of said second plate and in said solid portions, said third electrodes being seated within said depressions and thus disposed beneath said top surface of said second plate and shielded from each other.
 5. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the gas filling in said panel is present in said first slots in said first plate and in said elongated slots in said second plate, and gas discharge can take place in said first slots between said first and second electrodes and in said elongated slots between said second and third electrodes.
 6. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein the gas filling in said panel is present in said first slots in said first plate and in said elongated slots in said second plate, said first, second, and third electrodes being in contact with said gas.
 7. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said first electrodes are anodes, said second electrodes are cathodes, and said third electrodes are anodes.
 8. The panel defined in claim 1 wherein said first and third electrodes are anode wires and said second electrodes are cathode strips having apertures positioned between each scanning cell and an associated display cell. 